


"I'm Gonna Die"

by Thefanfictor



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friends, Books, Coffee, Crushes, Early Mornings, F/M, Feelings, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Imagine your OTP, Marine Mammals, Romance, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-02 13:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10945506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefanfictor/pseuds/Thefanfictor
Summary: Percabeth meeting (and subsequent romance) oneshot.  Because I love this ship and haven't written anything for it.





	"I'm Gonna Die"

**Author's Note:**

> A oneshot for a random prompt I found. "Imagine your OTP meeting in college when person A is sitting in class and person B walks in, pours a Monster energy drink into their coffee, says 'I'm going to die' and drinks it." Enjoy, y'all!

Annabeth Chase was not prepared.  The first day of the first year of college and she was already seriously considering the benefits of becoming an isolated goat herder in the mountains of Switzerland.  Pros: safe, calm, and far away from other people.  Cons: spiders.  And everything else.

Waiting for class to begin, she busied herself with reorganizing the stack of textbooks on the desk in front of her.  They had cost a ton of money and she was brainstorming ways to make the entire process more efficient when, just as the bell rang, a boy walked in.  He had a backpack slung over his shoulder and a cup of coffee in his hand.  He seated himself right next to Annabeth.

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.  This kid, whoever he was, seemed like a slacker and she had absolutely no room in her life for slackers.  If she found herself associating with them, she might as well throw out her carefully laid plans for the future right now to save time.  Just as she was preparing to ignore the guy, he pulled a can of Monster Energy Drink from his backpack and poured the entire thing into his coffee cup.

Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.  And Annabeth had thought _she_ was insane when it came to coffee.

Brushing his black hair out of his eyes, the new kid looked up at the clock, oblivious to Annabeth gaping at him.  "8 AM classes," he said.  "I'm gonna die."

And with that, he drank the entire coffee-Monster monstrosity in one gulp.  Swiping at his mouth hastily, he turned to Annabeth with a smile.  "Percy Jackson.  Pleased to meet you."

Now fully convinced that he was insane, Annabeth thought little of this encounter until a meeting with her friend, Piper McLean, two weeks later.  They'd picked out a little cafe that sold all sorts of delightful pastries, with a nice awning and a view of the street.  When she arrived, Annabeth decided immediately that she had to sketch the place and redesign it for fun. 

"What's new, Pipes?" Annabeth asked her friend, seating herself at the corner table Piper had selected.

"Not much.  Jason wants to buy bright purple sheets for his dorm bed, and I'm trying to convince him why that is a terrible idea," Piper said, rolling her eyes.  "He's so enthusiastic about it; I don't know if I have the heart to keep it up."

Annabeth smiled.  She'd met Piper's boyfriend on several occasions, and while he was cute, he seemed like he could be a handful.

"How about you?" Piper asked.  "Anything exciting happen? Did you meet anyone hot?" She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"No, Piper," Annabeth said, laughing.  "You know I don't have time for dating."

"Just asking," Piper said with a shrug.  "You do you."

"Actually, now that you mention it," Annabeth said, remembering the odd encounter from the first day.  "There was this guy . . ." 

She proceeded to regale her friend with the story.

"Now that is interesting," Piper said.  "And kind of horrific.  This dude . . . what did he look like again?"

"Tall and kinda tan, with short, dark hair and these really bright green eyes," Annabeth said, surprising herself with the accuracy of her memory.

"Hmm," Piper said thoughtfully.  "Like that?"

She pointed one manicured finger at the coffee line.  There, to Annabeth's astonishment, stood the very guy of whom they had been speaking.

"What was his name? Percy?" Piper stood up, waving like a thirteen-year-old girl who had just caught sight of her favorite pop star.  "Hey, yo, Percy, over here!"

Annabeth motioned frantically for her to stop, but the damage was already done.  Glancing over at them, the elusive Percy Jackson ambled over to their table, holding a brown paper bag in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

"You again," he said by way of greeting.  "It's Annabeth, right?"

Annabeth had to hide her astonishment.  People hardly ever got her name right, most notably her high school drama teacher, Mr. D, who had insisted on calling her "Annie Bell" until she graduated.  "Uh, yeah, that's me," she managed to stammer out.

"Cool.  So, you gonna introduce me to your friend here?" He said, gesturing to Piper.

"Oh, sorry, I'm being rude," Annabeth said, tripping over her tongue.  Where were her words when she needed them?  "Percy, this is Piper McLean, my best friend. Piper, this is Percy."

The two shook hands.  "McLean, huh?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.  "Like . . . the movie star guy?"

Annabeth winced.  Piper's dad was a bit of a touchy subject.  To her surprise, her friend didn't seem angry.  "Yeah, he's my dad," Piper sighed.  "But please don't talk about him.  At all.  I'd rather start our acquaintanceship off on the right foot, you know?"

"Duly noted." Percy took a sip of his coffee.  He really did have startling eyes.  "So, what should we talk about?"

"Whatever you like," Piper said.  She steepled her fingers.  "How're classes?"

This led to another twenty minutes of talking.  Despite her first impression of Percy, she found herself enjoying it.  He seemed easygoing, had Piper in stitches throughout their conversation, and even managed to get Annabeth to crack a smile.  She tried to match his wit, getting a feel for how he talked and using it to get into a comfortable rhythm of banter.

"Well, it's been nice talking to you, but I gotta go," Percy said at last, standing.  "I'm supposed to be meeting my friend Grover soon and I gotta catch the bus.  See you guys around, I hope?"

"Count on it," Piper said before Annabeth could answer.  Percy winked, then shouldered his backpack and made for the exit, disappearing into the crowd.

"What was that?" Annabeth demanded once Percy was out of earshot.

Piper smiled mischievously.  "Nothing.  I'm sure you two will get along famously."

And indeed, Annabeth found herself spending more and more time with Percy.  She met Grover, who seemed cool, and he certainly gave her plenty of material to tease her new friend about.  They played a game of Hacky Sack while waiting around for the bus one day, Annabeth displaying hidden talents she hadn't known she possessed.  "See, Percy, I can have fun," she said, bouncing the apple off her elbow.

"Never said you couldn't," he replied, hitting it back.  "Just not often.  Not often enough, anyway."

She tried to glare, but ended up laughing instead.  Such was the way of things when Percy Jackson was your friend.

After a while, Piper started inquiring after Percy's wellbeing whenever she and Annabeth spent time together, as if Percy had become a natural extension of her.  Annabeth would catch her smiling when she mentioned his name, and at times she thought her friend was going crazy.

Then again, maybe she was going crazy too, she reflected as she sat on her dorm bed avoiding her mythology work to look at pictures of seals Percy was sending her.  They were kind of adorable, and reminded her a bit of Percy himself.  The resemblance was uncanny.

Several months after their initial meeting, Annabeth was working on a project for her architecture class when she heard a knock on the door.  She hadn't realized how late it was until she glanced at the clock and realized it was 2 AM.  Getting up from the computer, she stretched for a minute before opening the door to see Percy on the other side, hair disheveled and expression exhausted, clutching a sheaf of papers in one hand.

"Why are you here?" 

"I would've texted you," Percy mumbled.  "Sorry.  I'm just terrible at studying for anything, and I have a test tomorrow, and I figured if anyone could help me, you could, right? I mean, you're like, the smartest person I know!"

Annabeth felt something warm in her chest at the compliment.  She had always prided herself on her intelligence.  In her opinion, it was her best trait.

Percy was still talking.  "But, like, you're probably busy, and I don't wanna . . . impose 'r anything." He ran his fingers through his hair.  "This was a stupid idea, I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize!" Annabeth said hurriedly.  "I can totally help.  Who would I be to turn down someone seeking knowledge? Plus, I'm also shitty at time management.  It's the ADHD." 

Saving her work on the computer, Annabeth thought about sitting at her desk, but quickly concluded that there wouldn't be enough room for both of them, instead choosing to sit on the floor.  "Now, what are you having trouble with?" She asked, trying to sound businesslike but not quite pulling it off.

Percy spread the papers he had brought inside across the carpeting.  "Well . . ."

They ended up staying awake for hours to come.  At some point that Annabeth couldn't really remember, the conversation turned away from academics entirely, the two rambling about every topic they could think of.  Annabeth thought she might have kissed him.  Eventually, they must have fallen asleep because they woke up next to each other on the floor of her dorm room.

After that, something about their relationship had changed.  They were more open, free in what they said and did in the other's presence.  Every once in a while, she'd catch herself ruffling Percy's hair or hugging him a little too long, and wonder if all this was normal.  She tried to run the calculations, both in her head and on paper, but decided her sample size wasn't large enough.  She didn't really need to know anyway.

"How are you and Jason?" Annabeth said one week, shuffling through papers at hers and Piper's café table.

"Oh, we're great," Piper said, smiling.  It was nearing summer and the air was thick with happiness, which Annabeth found slightly nauseating.  "We were actually thinking about moving in together next year."

"That's awesome," Annabeth said, meaning it.

"How are you and Percy?" Piper asked, refocusing her kaleidoscopic eyes.

Annabeth had to think.  There was no her and Percy.  Except for the fact that there kind of was.  "We're fine" was the answer she ended up giving.  Except that they were a lot more than that.

Annabeth finished out the year with stellar grades.  One of her other friends, Thalia Grace, threw a small (actually rather large) party, which Annabeth attended, despite her not altogether unreasonable reservations.  A large chunk of perfectly good time was spent having nonsensical conversations with drunk people while she held an empty cup and nodded, mind back in her dorm with her laptop.  In the end, she found Percy and they ended up hanging out in the kitchen just talking, both of them sober.  He even got her to laugh.  She kissed him for the second time, but this one she remembered for sure.

There's nothing like summer in the city, or at least there wasn't for Annabeth.  She kept busy: volunteering, reading every book she could get her hands on, applying for internships at local architecture firms, and working a job at the local library.  She and Percy texted at least five times a day.  Sometimes it was about profound things like the origin of the universe and sometimes he'd send her a picture of a dog, or a muffin, or an oddly-shaped tree with absolutely no context.  She loved that about him.  Scratch that, she loved everything about him.  Was that statistically improbable? Definitely.  Did she care? Definitely not.

On July 17, Annabeth went through her normal routine.  But at 2:00 in the afternoon precisely, there was a knock on her door.  She ran to answer it, and saw him: tall, tan, windswept black hair, bright green eyes.

"Percy, hey," she said, a bit flustered.  "Good to see you." 

"I was in the neighborhood," Percy said, grinning at her in that adorable, enthusiastic puppy-dog way of his.  "I came to say happy birthday.  Made you a cake, or, well, I tried.  I had some help." He hefted a white cake box.  "It might look kinda like a blue brick.  Sorry about that." Annabeth had to laugh.

"That is very thoughtful of you," she managed.  "I can't believe you remembered my birthday."

Percy looked offended.  "Hey, my memory isn't that terrible!"

Annabeth smirked at him.  Putting down the cake box, she kissed him again.  She had to stand on tiptoe to reach.  The mountains of Switzerland suddenly seemed very far away.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this while I was extremely sleep deprived, relying heavily on autocorrect. Forgive me. Leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it, and thanks for reading!


End file.
